Strange Fields (Chronicle)

1) Beginning

The perfect yet destructive rhythm of life inside school. Every day was practically the same thing yet people treat it as something different, something to be celebrated. Somehow, I was the only one who saw life as it really was; a repetitive beat of the perfectly boring life on Earth.

     Students smiled as the day was starting, running up and down the halls as I strode alongside one of my only friends on the entire planet, Kyara; an African-American girl who had an extensive amount of school pride and involved herself in school activities and elections more than the average person. But that’s what made her so likable. Her smiles made up for mine and her cheer and happiness would rub off on me at times.

     ‘Demi!’ She chimed, snapping me out of my tired and blank stare. ‘You see that boy with the camera?’

     Looking up from the ground and to where she pointed, I saw a lanky boy holding a large camera, filming the walls covered with election papers. Kyara happened to be holding a large stack of the very same picture of a boy by the name of Steve Montgomery who was in the running for the pointless elections.

     ‘Yeah?’ I responded, now staring blankly at the boy recording.

     ‘I’m gonna go up to him and bombard him with these papers.’ Kyara said with her take of a mischievous grin.

     This somehow put a smile on my face as I watched Kyara pestering this poor boy as he tried to back away from her. How I wished I had the courage she did but it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

     Hours later, I was sitting on the bleachers alone, bored out of my mind. The cheerleaders were doing their practice and I didn’t bother to watch anyone else. The sky was more interesting than the students down below. But the one thing that caught my eye was that boy who Kyara bothered earlier. He was alone, too, with his camera still. Strange, how I thought I was the only one to sit on these bleachers alone at this time of day.

     Although that wasn’t the last time I saw him that day. Minutes before last period began, I saw him again in the hallway, by the lockers, still recording. I grinned as I wondered what could be so interesting at school that would push him to record the whole day.

     ‘What is this?’ said a boy who was well known as a bully in the school.

     Him and a few other boys came up to him, took his camera and pulled the boy into a headlock. My fist clenched as I watched the boys bully the poor kid. I had had too many experiences with bullies and seemed to block out feelings and expressing them. Except rage. That was one thing I couldn’t control half the time.

     ‘Assholes ... ‘ I heard the boy mutter after the bullies slid the camera along the floor back to him.

     Head down, I walked passed him to my locker, trying to act like I hadn’t seen anything. But I could feel a pair of eyes on the back of me. Maybe that was just me being paranoid.

*

     Flashing lights of every colour shot through the jumping bodies in the cramped room. People danced, jumped and screamed with excitement as the music blared. My body didn’t move as I stood on the drenched floor, surrounded by sweating teenagers. My eyes scanned the moving room, knowing if I copied their movements, I wouldn’t experience the same amount of fun. But my eyes stopped at the sight of my face but she was smiling, dancing with a boy. The smile on my twin sister’s face was the only difference between our appearances.

     Frowning as I stared at the boy she was dancing with, I tried to figure the reason for me accompanying her to this party. I wasn’t a party goer, I didn’t like crowded rooms or loud music with a hypnotic beat playing continuously. That is also what separated Anna from me. Oh, yeah, and I’m the only one in my family that can drive.

     Turning around to the exit, I walked away from the happy dancers but was stopped with a girl and her camera. I stared blankly as she refused to move out of my way.

     ‘Hey, can I film you for my blog?’ She screamed over the thumping music.

     ‘Uhh ...  sure,’ I said, continuing to stare.

     ‘Why aren’t you dancing?’ She asked.

     ‘I don’t like to dance,’ I screamed back.

     ‘Oh,’ she said, seeming to lose interest.

     ‘Got to go, bye,’ I said, slipping passed her towards the exit.

     But before I pushed through the door, a random flash caught my eye from the corner. It was the boy with the camera again. He was filming a couple girls dancing before a large guy approached him and seemed to be angry with him. I turned and went through the exit door to be greeted with the cold slap of winter’s air outside.

     My head began to throb as the loud music died down as the door closed. I had no clue how long I was in there but it was enough time to receive a headache. As I walked alone in the darkness towards where I parked the car, hearing the loud vibration of the rave, my ears picked up voices talking about ‘something amazing’. I thought to stop and ask what they were talking about but I suspected it wouldn’t be anything I would think of as ‘amazing’ or at least interesting.

     ‘Hey, you!’ A boy called out.

     I didn’t think he was talking to me so I continued walking to my car. It wasn’t until he stopped in front of me to ask if I wanted to see something.

     ‘It’s not your dick, is it?’ I asked, unimpressed and wanting to get into my car and wait for my sister to be done dancing with testosterone filled boys.

     ‘Uh ... no,’ He laughed. ‘Some guys found this hole that we have to see. Do you wanna come along?’

     ‘This sounds a little suspicious.’

     ‘Fine, don’t come. I was just trying to be polite. Your loss.’ He said, jogging to catch up with the group of people who were already walking away.